Massachusetts HortiaiUural Society. 465 



tions of individual happiness and national prosperity. On this topic, I can- 

 not refrain from exclaiming in the spirit, and nearly in the translated lan- 

 guage, of the great Latin poet, "Happy agriculturist ! happy horticulturist ! 

 loo happy, did you but know and realize the greatness of your own felici- 

 ty." 



Mr. Chairman, we hear and are daily told of, the prosperity and glory of 

 our country, resulting from conquest and the extension of our territory, now 

 reaching to the Rio Grande and the Pacific. In my judgment, however, 

 our national prosperity and glory are much more intimately dependant on the 

 improvement of the soil we possess, with whose qualities we are familiar, 

 and whose powers we know, than in grasping after conquered territories, of 

 whose capacities we know nothing, and of the consequences of whose con- 

 nexion we are necessarily ignorant. 



Under the influence of this opinion, permit me to offer the following sen- 

 timent : — 



The most useful and glorious of all conquerors, he, who subdues a stubborn soil, and who, by 

 enriching and deepening it, adds to our country a better and more permanent dominion, than he 

 who merely enlarges its surface. 



His Honor, the Mayor, then arose and said : — 



Mr. President : — You have observed that it was well to settle up as we 

 go along. Now, sir, you have taken the great liberty to make a pun upon 

 my name ; I do not mean to make one upon yours, but merely to offer you 

 a sentiment : — 



T7ie Massachusetts Horticultural Society : When they get another President, may they have 

 one that is cultivated, for it would puzzle them to find a Wilder. 



The President replied : — 



I feel that I have been very fairly taken advantage of. The Mayor asked 

 permission to speak twice to the same subject, — I granted it, and have 

 therefore no complaint to make. 



He then proposed : — 



The Clergij: No longer symbolized by the " Monkhood," nor subject to monastic terrors ; the 

 " Star of Bethlehem" has led to the better way. 



Rev. Mr. Rogers replied to this sentiment ; he remarked that horti- 

 culturists generally, in the purpose of this life, were not far removed from the 

 clergy. The former were occupied with the works, while the latter were 

 occupied with the ivords, of God. He then said : — 



God spake by the lips of the prophets and apostles, and it is our duty to 

 hearken to their voice, and repeat the truths they uttered, to enforce them, 

 and to live by them. Has he said nothing by the trees, and plants, and 

 flowers'? Is there no language that they speak ? They have a language ; 

 they have an utterance ; it is the very language of the stars of heaven, that 

 display His glory and show us His handiwork. In developing these works 

 of God, you are occupied with truths which God hath written upon the flow- 

 er ; upon its form, its nature, its texture ; on the leaf, the circulation of ita 

 juices ; its uses ; you are occupied with truths which develope the greatness 

 of that Almightiness creating us and preserving us. Is there no lesson to 

 be learned? There is a lesson; a great, a good, a glorious lesson ; and 



